I'm not breaking in, I swear
by izobelanya
Summary: Steve's been pining over his genius neighbour for years, but they've never really spoken. So then why on earth, a few weeks into the school year, is Tony climbing in through his bedroom window at near midnight? And what will it do to their non-existent relationship? (T for swearing)
1. Chapter 1

Steve Rogers was a happy teenager. He did pretty well in school, excelling in sports, following the rules, and being a good leader. His teachers liked him, and he had a great group of friends. The only thing that he needed to work on was his huge infatuation with his neighbour's son, Tony Stark.

From the moment the Starks had bought their son a small town house to live in during his Uni years, Steve had been trying at every opportunity to speak to the genius. It was obvious how intelligent Tony was; from the way he easily charmed the council at their college, (they went to the same college, something Steve was more than pleased about) to the constant stream of robotic contraptions he was out testing in the small back yard his budget house had been equipped with.

Tony, however, was straight as an arrow, according to Steve's friend Know-it-all-Natasha (she knew everything about everyone) and to prove her point even more, Tony was dating queen-bee redhead Pepper. The two appeared to be happy, as when Tony wasn't experimenting or throwing parties, he was being VERY public with the PDA.

And that's what made it so unexpected.

Steve was asleep late at night, his room somewhat neat and clean. He had a habit of sleeping in his regular clothes, and then waking up with crinkled jeans. It saved him on washing pajamas. He hadn't had to wash most of them since his aunt and primary carer, Peggy, had made him buy them.

"Hey," Steve tried to roll over, but whoever was shaking him just wouldn't quit.

"What- Tony?" Steve's voice went incredibly high. The genius was dressed in dark jeans, shoes and a hoodie. He had a finger to his lips.

"I need a favour," Tony started.

"Wh-yeah?" Steve asked, running a few fingers through his ruffled hair.

"I just need a couch to crash on. Someone scratched my car with their keys and my dad's pissed. I promise it's only for a night, no longer. I can catch the bus tomorrow."

"No, it's fine, I can drive," Steve said, sleepily getting up. He grabbed a spare blanket and pillow from his wardrobe and guided Tony downstairs. The smaller boy thanked him to the point of calling Steve the reincarnation of Jesus.

"Okay, the bathroom's there and the kitchen's there, just don't make too much mess, okay?" Steve asked.

"Dude, thanks. A lot. I know we don't know each other all that well, but if you ever need a favour, I've got your back. Seriously. I know some great rivers to hide bodies in." Tony seemed way too awake for this time of night, Steve observed.

"I'm not so sure I'll be needing to hide some bodies soon." Steve replied, still struggling to compute what was really happening. He was so tired, he didn't even stutter around the guy he'd liked for nearly three years.

* * *

The next morning was exciting, to say the least. Steve had forgotten his neighbour's late-night antics and come down to see him sleeping on the couch, causing the blonde to shout quite loudly.

After a groggy bowl of cereal, Steve offered Tony a change of clothes, but Tony declined.

"Nah, they'll be way too big! Dad should have left by now, so I can go grab my stuff. Is the ride thing still on?" Tony asked. Steve vaguely remembered offering Tony a ride to their college the night before.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll meet you outside in ten minutes?" The blonde responded, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. His smaller hopefully-friend then vaulted out of the window and sprinted across his lawn at full speed, heading ninja-style into the house and reappearing, changed, backpack in hand a supernaturally short amount of time later. Tony nearly beat Steve to the car.

"Here," Steve threw the backpacks into the back seats, and started driving.

"Dude, if you ever need help with anything, I have your back," Tony promised, making intense eye contact. "You saved my ass. Thanks, really. Seriously, I will help you hide bodies."

Steve gave him a weird side-eye, one corner of his mouth twisting up. "I'm just being kind."

"Yeah, and you're much more of a Hannibal anyway." Tony muttered to himself.

"So, uh, have a nice day?" Steve asked as he handed Tony his backpack, once they had pulled into the school.

"Jesus, you're my neighbour, not my dad," Tony grunted, lifting his heavy backpack. From the looks of things, he was carrying all his books at once. With the amount of extra classes Tony took, the pack would no doubt weigh 20 or so pounds.

"Not like my dad would want to spend more than the mandatory amount of time with me," Tony muttered under his breath. "You too, I guess? I owe you one. Big time."

"Don't mention it." Steve grinned and waved his friend off, heading towards his art class.

* * *

"So, I heard you and Stark rode in the same car to get here," Natasha spoke, not looking up from her lily sketch. "How did that happen?"

"Jeez, you and Clint are definitely stalkers." Steve shuddered, pulling out his pencils and sketch pad. "How did you find out? We only got here twenty minutes ago."

"Well, I didn't know if it was strictly true, but now I do." Natasha pulled out her phone and sent a quick text. "Looks like I owe Peggy one. How did that happen, anyway?"

"He kinda broke into my house and asked for a couch to sleep on. He couldn't stay in his house for whatever reason, so I just gave him the couch and a blanket. He seemed panicked, so we're friends now, I think?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"He lives a few houses from Obie. Why didn't he just go to him?" She retorted.

"I don't know. Maybe he couldn't run that far, or Obie has strict parents or something." Steve's own parents were far too dead to be enforcing house rules. Luckily, Steve had a huge respect for the domestic laws they'd set in place.

"Alright, it's not like he fancies you or anything." Natasha grinned when Steve morphed into a tomato.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Steve was strolling down his front lawn when he saw Tony just about to cross the road and head to the bus stop.

"Tony!" He shouted, waving his keys. It took three shouts to get the genius to pull out an earphone. "You want a ride?"

"You're being serious?" Tony shouted back, looking hesitant.

"Of course!" Steve beckoned to the passenger seat.

Tony ran over in a few slightly out of breath strides, and Steve noticed a small bruise on his lower jaw. "What happened to your head?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "You're a natural dad, aren't you? I got into a fight with a piece of machinery, and it won. Were you serious, though? If I can avoid the sweaty peasants, I will."

Steve smirked and gestured to the seat opposite the one he was climbing into. "Just don't try and UFC my dashboard, alright?"

"Hey, is this ACDC?" Tony had found his way into the shelf under the glovebox. "God, what on earth? There's no way you're that cool!"

"Thanks. And they're Bucky's, but he always leaves his stuff in my car." Steve gestured to the sunglasses next to the CDs.

"He's maybe a dinosaur for the CDs, but I need to find this glorious human." Tony started reading the titles on the back of the disk cases. "These are the limited edition albums! What is this guy, the Jesus of music?"

Steve was starting to wish he'd claimed ownership to the music, but nevermind. Maybe he could get Tony to come speak to Bucky with him at lunch?

"Alright, I'm stopping you before you start. _You_ have a great day." Tony looked very smug as they pulled in.

"Is this a competition now?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure, I'll race you here any day!" Tony backed up, leaving the car as he'd found it. He pulled the hood of his hoodie up and put earphones into his ears before jogging off to Maths.

"Right. English." Steve muttered to himself, desperately trying to get a certain pair of chocolate eyes out of his mind.

* * *

"So, you and Stark?" Clint whispered, leaning back so the back of his chair rested against Steve's.

"The bus would have taken ages, and it was a kind thing to do." Steve narrowed his eyes and grinned wryly. "Besides, what's happening with you and the new kid? The twin."

Clint instantly receded. "Geez, leave it be! I'm trying to stop crushing. You're not helping. Anyway, Natasha said to give you this." In a swift movement, Clint flicked a piece of folded paper into Steve's lap and leant his chair back to his desk, disappearing.

Steve opened it up, curious why Natasha wouldn't just text him.

 _Hey Steve. You know your new pal Tony? His girlfriend, Pepper, is supposedly cheating on him with Obadiah. It's spreading around school. Make sure you take advantage of it!_

What on earth, Steve thought. How the heck would Natasha know?

Then he remembered. Natasha was really close with Gamora and Wanda, Pepper's closest friends. No doubt, they'd be looking to overthrow her.

The next few lessons, plagued with practical jokes from Bucky, dragged by. When the lunch bell sounded, Steve visibly sighed with relief. Then, of course, Tony had to appear in the hallway.

"Hey, Steve, look, I know you're my pal and everything-" Tony came up to Steve, his eyes wild and full of fear. "Can you please hide me in your locker?"

"What?" Steve asked.

"Obadiah's really mad at me, I know I already owe you a favour, I promise I'll do anything, I-" Tony was babbling, constantly swerving his head backwards.

"No, as in I have a better plan. Come with me." Steve grabbed Tony's elbow - not really thinking, so he didn't notice the hue of pink on Tony's ears - and dragged him towards the hideout Natasha and Clint had called dibs on.

"Nobody goes in here, I promise," Steve said, and opened an old-looking "Staff only" door before pushing Tony into darkness.

Once the door was shut, Tony pulled out his smartphone and used it as a torch. The room was full of broken chairs, dented bins, and general rubbish stuff, like discarded science projects.

"What is this place?" He asked, wrinkling his nose at how oddly clean it smelled.

"It's Natasha and Clint's secret hideout. I doubt even the teachers know this is here; if they do, they certainly don't monitor it. It's the garbage can for the school." Steve grinned, found the slightly ripped armchair he'd adopted, and opened up a sandwich.

"How are you so okay with being in here? Aren't you the schoolboy saint type?" Tony asked, pulling a store-bought wrap from his own bag.

"I wasn't always this gigantic, as Bucky likes to say. I used to shelter from bullies in here." Steve patted the wall affectionately. "I spent nearly half of sixth year in here."

A text lit up Tony's phone. He frowned and started reading, before his jaw dropped open. "Oh wow. She really put some time into this one."

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, one thick blonde eyebrow raising.

"Nevermind, it's just Pepper. She's trying to pick a fight with me again. I'll tell her I'm in science class or something." He quickly tapped his fingers onto the touch screen, then sighed and put the device on silent.

"Okay, well, what do we do now?" Tony asked as Natasha and Clint came in, subtly winking at Steve.

"There's never boredom as long as I'm around," Clint grinned, making his voice all cheesy. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Tony, we haven't seen you in here before," Natasha commented, pulling a salad from her own bag. "How come you're in here now?"

"Obadiah's kinda betrayed me. He's taken all my buddies aside from Bruce and Rhodey, so now I'm kinda alone. Someone spread a secret about him, and he thinks I've done it. Hell, I don't even know any of his secrets, the man's like a god damn island." Tony started to eat again, and soon the room was silent.

"So Steve brought you in here to shelter?" Clint asked, choking down a much too large handful of pringles.

"Yeah," Tony replied, shoving the remains of his wrap into his mouth, chipmunk style. He spent a few minutes trying not to regurgitate it and then spoke. "He's actually pretty cool. I owe him a bunch of favours now. He's not a murderer, is he? I'd still help with the bodies, but I need to keep my record clean-"

"No, if anyone's gonna be doing murdering it's Natasha," Clint side-eyed his friend. "She could probably make it look like Steve's work, though."

"How bad do you wanna find out?" Natasha asked, one red eyebrow flicking up. Clint visibly shuddered.

"Hey, Clint, have you seen Bucky?" Steve asked. Usually Bucky, or Buck, caught the same bus in.

"Yeah, he was on the bus. He said something about detention with the school counsellor. He tried to break up a fight and accidentally nearly broke somebody's nose." Clint chuckled. "Damn, I bet that kid's never gonna sleep again."

Tony decided he liked these people.


	3. Chapter 3

It was finally the weekend, and Steve couldn't wait to go out and get food. How lame did that sound?

Over the years, however, his aunt-turned-carer, Peggy, had taught him how to budget and he was actually really good at it. Hopefully, the next time she visited him, he could pick up some dating tips. If Natasha was anything to go by, he needed some serious help with the Tony situation.

Exiting the superstore with a shocking amount of bags in each hand, Steve recognised two girls from his History class. He stopped and earwigged for a bit as he sipped a coke, tired and enjoying the sunlight.

"So, when's Pepper going to tell Tony?" One girl asked, tapping away at her phone screen.

"I don't know. Is she even with him anymore? I thought everyone found out about her and O-" The girl stopped as another walked up to her, forming the trio. The conversation dropped instantly.

Steve decided to go put his bags in the back of his car - after all, they were digging into his fingers - and texted Natasha what he'd overheard. Deciding that was it, he backed out of the car park and headed back to his house.

On the drive back, Steve heard his phone ping once - he assumed it was Natasha, probably asking if the source was reliable, and who he'd heard it from. When he pulled in to his driveway, Steve was surprised to see it was Bucky.

 _Hey jerk, I've been sick all week, but now your peasant germs have left me. Want to meet up to go for a movie? I hear that the new xpendables is out. Actually reply this time you grandad! Meet me in about half an hour? I wanna get popcorn though._

It was reassuring to see Bucky back to his usual, sarcastic self, though the sarcasm reminded Steve of a certain brunette.

With surprising competence, Steve stood with his boot open as he sent a quick text back. _Of course, stupid. When do you wanna meet?_

He wasn't aware of the dark brown eyes watching him stalker-style from Tony's bedroom window. It was research, okay? Tony just wanted to see how Steve was so strong. He definitely wasn't hoping to see some flexing action.

Once his neighbour had headed into his house, Tony turned back to his laptop, flicking through Steve's old facebook photos. He misclicked and froze in stone cold fear.

"Fuckabagfuckabagfuckabag-" Tony muttered repeatedly under his breath, desperately unliking the picture from 2012. Oh god. Steve would get a notification, but there would be no evidence. When questioned, Tony would deny, and call it a glitch. He could say Rhodey had stolen his laptop. He could say his facebook had been hacked into by evil machine ghosts-

Beside him, his phone buzzed.

 _we stil on 4 film?_

Oh, lord. Tony would have to educate Rhodey on the ways of texting. He cringed as he read the awfully written text.

 _You text like a drunk four year old! Sure, meet up in twenty minutes for whichever action looks coolest?_

The reply came before Tony could glance over another three pre-natural-steroid Steve photos.

 _suure. also yeah ok. im with sam rn, we'll meet up when you get into town?_

Tony sent back a confirmation, then headed down into his garage. His car was back, even if he was only allowed to use it to get in and out of town. Happily behind the wheel of his expensive Audi, Tony drove out of the estate and into town, definitely not lingering his gaze on a certain blonde as he sprinted out to his car _in a skin-tight grey shirt._ Man, if only he'd taken a picture.

The genius shook his head to clear the image, trying to focus on driving, not the dorito-like triangle that was Steve Rogers' torso. _No, Tony,_ he inner-monologued, _you are not doing this. Not while you're dating Pepper. It's not fair to her, especially seeing as she doesn't know._

Tony wasn't entirely sure why he was dating Pepper, anyway. She was pretty, smart and witty enough to maintain conversation with him, but it felt more like a close friendship, not a romantic couple.

Pushing the thoughts aside, Tony tracked Rhodey and Sam, who were talking to an odd-looking boy with long brown hair. He'd never seen this new guy before.

"Hey, Tony, this is Bucky, one of my engineering class." Sam introduced the two.

"Oh, hey, I've heard of you," Tony grinned, shaking his hand. "When Steve gave me a lift to school, I found your ACDC collection. Nice to know I'm not the only one with music taste."

Bucky grinned back. "Excellent choice, my friend. Speaking of Steve, have you seen him? We're meant to be meeting for the expendables, but no doubt he got his shoulders stuck in his front door or something."

Tony tried to push down the swell of questions that rose up inside his mind. _Is Bucky dating Steve? No, they're just close friends, right? No, Tony, you're not getting jealous over-_

"Hey, Tony, Sam, Rhodey, what brings you here? Nice to see you all!" A large, warm hand rested on Tony's shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts. Steve's timing was impeccable.

"Finally! Here's your ticket, pay me back after." Bucky tossed a slip of card to Steve, who grinned and strode over to his friends before turning back.

"What are you guys going to see?" He asked, hoping Tony didn't notice how often he kept glancing at him.

"We're here for the expendables, seeing as Fast and Furious doesn't come out for a few days," Sam gestured to the ticket booths. "Speaking of which, Tones, Rhodes, we should probably go get those."

"Right, I'm gonna go grab popcorn. Rhodey, you're not touching it until you promise no repeat incidents." At this, Bucky clapped his hands together.

"I sense a brilliant backstory," He grinned, rubbing his hands together cartoon-style.

As Rhodey took a moment to explain, Tony slipped off and hid behind a booth, checking for a blush in the nearest reflective surface. Nothing. Thank god.

Now he just had to endure the next few hours without giving the game away. Wait, since when did he have feelings to give away?


End file.
